Of course, that wasn't all I had going on.
First, I stopped to have lunch with my new friend, K, before she went to work. That went very well. We had a long chat, then discovered there was still about a half hour left before her shift started. We drove off to a back corner of a parking lot for some serious nonverbal communication. Except for our coats, nothing was taken off, but we both enjoyed ourselves very much. This was our first meeting, so we had not kissed or hugged before.
(Things with K have progressed very well since then. I'm hoping we can meet again, maybe about a week from now.)
Then I drove south to visit my 92-year-old uncle and drop off some very old books that had belonged to my grandparents (his parents)--an ancient photo album with photos of ancestors from the old country, a Danish bible and a Danish Psalmbook. Everything was at least 100 years old. My mom (his sister) had them at her house for many years, but I want them to go to one of my cousins (his son) who has done a lot of research into family genealogy. He would appreciate them more than anyone else, I think.
I was there for about a half hour. Next, off to Oshkosh to visit my friends S and T. We went to Golden Corral for supper, then did some shopping at Walmart (they needed a few things), then went back to their place, where I was staying. We watched "Prince of Persia." It seemed like a movie version of a video game, which, in fact, it is. Yawn.
Saturday morning, I drove north (by myself) to Green Bay for the NCAA hockey regionals, taking place at the Resch Center. That's a nice new facility, just down the street from the Packers' offices and Lambeau Field. Here is what the Resch looks like from the outside ...
... and from the inside ...
The seating two rows away from the ice was, ummm, rather basic ...
But it gave me a great view of the action. There were two games, starting at 12:30. North Dakota won the first one in a 6-0 blowout. The Fighting Sioux are in the white and green shirts, scoring one of their early goals (the puck is midair between a defender's legs) ...
Game two, between Denver (white) and Western Michigan, was a tense, close battle. I got several action shots during that one, too ...
Denver tied the game late in regulation time, so they went to overtime. And then another overtime. Finally, midway through the second OT, the game winner ...
The extra long second game meant I didn't get back to my friends in Oshkosh until about 9:30 p.m. I was feeling pretty tired by then and went to bed at 11.
The girls had saved me a lot of money by letting me sleep at their place instead of in a motel room. To thank them, I took them back to Golden Corral on Sunday morning, to try out their breakfast menu. We ate well. Then back to their place, where we watched my DVD of "Allegro Non Troppo," which is best described as an Italian version of Disney's "Fantasia," with animated stories set to classical music.
Then it was time to go. I especially thanked T, who decided to sleep on the couch during my visit, leaving me no alternative but to bed down next to S. Of course, we made the most of the opportunity.
The championship game of the hockey regional was on Sunday. But it didn't start until 4:30 p.m. because of TV, and I figured that if I saw it and stayed till the end of it, I wouldn't get home until 10 p.m. or so. With a busy Monday ahead of me, I decided to just head for home. As luck had it, I arrived back home shortly after 4:30.
Winter has been hanging on for dear life up in our area, but on the way home I saw something that made me happy. Each spring, I wait to see the Canada geese flying north, signaling (to me) the official end to winter. No geese yet. It's been much too cold and snowy in the Upper Midwest lately.
But suddenly, I spotted something right along the state highway, and I had to stop for a close look. A big flock of geese was right along the road, relaxing and getting whatever food they could find in the snowy field ...
Further back, there were hundreds of geese ...
A few were getting a drink closer to me ...
About a half mile further north, I saw some sandhill cranes in a field ...
Seeing the geese and cranes made me feel a little warmer. Winter really isn't going to last forever. No matter how it seems. Sooner or later, the geese will venture further north, the air will finally get warm, the grass will get green, the trilliums will bloom, and tree branches will be covered in green.
We're so close to spring now. Can't wait.
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